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Show Page 39 At last, exhausted by my tears and somewhat calmer, though no less alone, I crept homeward, thankful there was no one about to see. Anne came into the house a short time later, near breathless, her cheeks nigh as red as her hair. "Oh Sarah," she laughed. "Never have I been so fawned over or petted. Why, the difficult part will not be finding a good man, 'twill be making a choice from all those who have made me an offer. There is an Isaac and a Henry, a Richard, a Matthew and a Jacob. Goodness, I can scarce remember the faces that go with the names! "There is one though who makes my heart trip a little faster, yet also brings me comfort at the same time. Is that possible,think you?" Anne did not wait for a reply, and, indeed, none was needed. "His name is Cisly Mills. He is settled in Martin's Hundred and has his own house. Though he lives on Company land, he will soon have fifty acres of his own and another fifty acres is promised when he pays the fare for the woman he marries Imagine, Sarah, one hundred acres of land all your own. Why only the wealthy yoemen and the landed gentry in England have that much land. Never did I dream I might someday be mistress of a great estate!" |